Dr Jill Weatherhill
Portrayed by Amy Robbins, Dr Jill Weatherill is a General Practitioner at Saint Aidens Royal Free Hospital. She appears in one episode of Heartbeat, Out of The Blue, and in all 83 episodes of The Royal. Jill is depicted as a hard-working, proud yet caring member of staff; she was one of the only female doctors to work at the hospital. She begins a relationship with colleague Dr Gordon Ormerod, whose wife was about to leave him before she suffered an accident. Then in a coma, the separation is not public, and so Gordon and Jill feel obliged to keep their affair secret. They go on to marry at the start of Series Four, following the death of Gordon's first wife; she keeps her name, continuing to be addressed as Dr Weatherill, and becomes a step-mother to his two children. Tension rises when they argue over whether Jill should take a break from her career to raise a family, but they do go on to have a son together; a nanny is hired enabling Jill to go back to work, but she regrets not spending more time with her baby. This conflict sees her hold off telling Gordon when she later falls pregnant again as she questions her own suitability as a mother. In the final episode of Series Six, she suffers an ectopic pregnancy, and, still digesting the news, Gordon is forced to begin the operation to save her. Resident surgeon Mr Rose arrives in time to help, but the severity of the damage means a hysterectomy must be performed. Afterwards, Jill is unable to have any more children, which affects her deeply. At the start of the next series, Gordon is seen trying to shield her from strain at work, discouraging others from summoning her and taking on her cases, particularly those involving pregnancies. Ironically, this contributes to Jill being the only one available to attend the scene of a traffic accident, where a woman has gone into labour. Dr Weatherill delivers the baby at the scene, and this apparently helps her begin to come to terms with her loss. Eventually, she and Gordon adopt Aisling, Sister Brigid's niece, bringing the total children in the family to four. The baby was born to Brigid's sister, Moira, whilst she was staying with her, but Moira sadly passed away from an accident not long after having baby Aisling. Jill and Gordon accompanied Brigid to the funeral in Ireland, where the baby's father - a married man in the Garda - caused a scene and fled the community. When Mr Middleditch bequests money to The Royal, she and husband Gordon argue over what the money should be used for. She believes it should go to a Premature Baby Unit, where as Gordon feels it should go to a new General Ward. Eventually, after discussing the matter with locum Doctor Nick Burnette, she agrees that the bequest should go to a General Ward. However, in spin-off series The Royal Today, there is mention made to a Premature Baby Unit, which was said to be opened by and named after Jill Weatherill. The Royal Today also features her son, Jonathan Ormerod, as a consultant at the hospital. In the final episode of The Royal, The Enemy Within, she watches on as Mr Rose fights to save her husband's life, after he was caught in the middle of a family feud and stabbed. She begs Sister Brigid to pray for him, and hers are the final lines of the show as she tearfully says "I can't lose him. I can't..."